Today Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that they will move Adult Swim up to 6 pm. This announcement was made during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront event talking to the press and advertisers. This comes as increasingly kids have stopped watching cable TV and are now watching YouTube and other services.
This comes as just recently Adult Swim expanded to start at 7 pm. Now it seems that is going so well they want to expand again to 6 pm.
Cartoon Network, which advertises itself as targeting a core audience of boys and girls aged 6-12, now though most of its viewers are over the age of 18, with 75% of its viewers are now over the age of 18 and 43% over the age of 30, according to Statista. Because of this it seems that Warner Bros. Discovery wants to use Adult Swim to help drive up its viewership earlier by moving it up to 6 pm.
It has even been reported that in 2022 during the hours of 6 pm to 8 pm, 68% of Cartoon Networks’ audience was over the age of 18. This time block has traditionally been big, with school-age kids looking to watch TV before bed.
Increasing the next generation of possible cable TV subscribers are now on streaming. Kids are watching YouTube Kids instead of Cartoon Network, and older kids are watching Paramount+ or Disney+.
Moving up Adult Swim earlier also helps attract advisors. This brings in more of the content that targets what advertisers want viewers aged 18 to 34 on average. Well, that has changed some the prime advertising dollars have often been spent on programming being watched by 18 to 34-year-olds.
No date has been announced for when Adult Swim will move up to 6 pm at this time.
It was also announced that American Dad will help be a lead for this newly expanded Adult Swim block. We will have to wait to see the full Adult Swim schedule once it is expanded.